Gravity is force that attracts objects toward the centre of the Earth
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Earth’s Gravity
- holds everything on Earth on the ground and stop it flying off into space.
- holds our Earth together keeps the Moon orbiting our Earth.
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. - our Earth, Saturn, Jupiter, comets, etc – all orbiting our Sun.
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Gravity Acts
- gravity acts on all matters in the Universe.
- stars burn by squeezing their matter together – this is caused by gravity.
- force of gravity depends on mass (the amount of matter in an object) and distance.
- more mass an object has and the closer it is to another objects – the more strongly its gravity pull (like Earth pulling Moon).
- the Black Hole have the strongest gravitational pull in the Universe.
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Laws of gravity
- the basic laws of gravity can be used for anything, including detecting an unseen planet by studying the flickers in another star’s light.
- Einstein’s theory of general relativity shows that gravity not only pulls on matter, but also bends space and even time itself.
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Orbits
- Orbits are the result of a perfect balance between the force of gravity on an object – pulls it inward towards whatever it is orbiting.
- its forward momentum – keeps it flying straight onwards.
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Back to The Universe / next to Dark Matter page.